Apple fixes App Store DRM error, crash-free downloads resume

Apple is also lending a hand to developers who suffered from 1-star reviews.

Apple has identified and fixed the server problem that caused App Store downloads to become corrupt and crash on launch earlier this week. And in deference to developers that had suffered from a rash of 1-star reviews from angry users, Apple is effectively "hiding" such reviews posted between July 3-5.

Instapaper developer Marco Arment first reported the problem after receiving a "deluge" of support requests and user complaints late Tuesday evening, just as many US developers were gearing up to celebrate Independence Day in the US on Wednesday. A server error caused the FairPlay DRM encoding to fail, which resulted in users receiving corrupted binaries when applying any recent updates via the iOS App Store or the Mac App Store. These corrupt binaries would crash on launch, failing to authenticate properly as a legitimate download. Arment had identified as many as 120 apps that had been affected by the issue as of Thursday.

"We had a temporary issue that began yesterday with a server that generated DRM code for some apps being downloaded, [and] it affected a small number of users," an Apple spokesperson said in a statement sent to The Loop. "The issue has been rectified and we don’t expect it to occur again."

Arment questioned the fact that only a small number of users were affected, noting that at least 20,000 of his users alone reported problems. At least the fix is relatively simple; any users who still have corrupt apps can delete and re-download them, or check for a new update.

As mentioned earlier, Apple apparently took an extra step to help developers that had received 1-star reviews on the App Store due to the DRM problem. Unnamed sources told Macworld that 1-star reviews received during the time the server error was in effect would be deleted. Arment later clarified that Apple instead reset affected apps as having a "new" update: the 1-star reviews are still there, but no longer show for the latest update. As a side benefit, users can simply apply the "new" update over an existing corrupt binary without having to delete it first, preserving any existing user data.